Sask. school divisions struggling to 'maintain a status quo' amid years of underfunding

After months spent talking about additional investments in education from the provincial government, two of the largest school divisions in Saskatchewan say it's not enough to address class size or composition.

Saskatoon Public Schools and Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools released updates to their 2024-2025 budgets this month, and both say the modest increase to funding will barely cover inflation and enrolment growth.

"When factoring in an anticipated enrolment increase of 700 students, rising costs due to inflation and the continued increase in students requiring additional support, there is minimal room for further supports, programs and services for students," a letter from the public school division sent out to parents last week read.

"This announcement is a good first step, but we require years of additional investments in education to reduce the funding gap and return service offerings that were reduced in 2016-2017," a budget update from Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools read.

Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation president Samantha Becotte wasn't surprised by the news.

"It is extremely disappointing. I know it likely comes as a shock to many people in the public, given announcements around the budget specifically from our premier when he kind of leaked his own budget and said that $180 million was coming into our education funding," Becotte said.

"It really should be a significant concern for students and their families and members of the public about the lack of investment that our government is putting into public education."

Since before the school year even started, the province and the STF have been locked in a labour negotiation stalemate that has often dominated headlines.

The teachers' federation has repeatedly said issues like underfunding, class size and complexities need to be addressed in the new collective bargaining agreement, while the province has flatly refused.

As the winter progressed, the province took unusual steps of providing additional funding outside of bargaining, and even releasing details of the education budget early — but it has done little to help the current needs of two of the province's largest school divisions.

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"It's not surprising to hear many school divisions across the province talking about being able to maintain a status quo level of support within schools. Many (are) talking about still needing to make additional cuts," Becotte said.

Last month, the province struck a four-year deal with the Saskatchewan School Boards Association to include a minimum of $356.6 million per year for four years for classroom supports as well as increased investment into youth mental health resources.

At the time, Becotte said some school board trustees were pressured to agree to the funding deal after being given 24 hours to sign the agreement.

"Just because there is some stability being offered by this budget, (it) is not necessarily sufficient in terms of being able to enhance what is happening in classrooms," SSBA president Jamie Smith-Windsor said Monday.

"The next step of that process is we have four years to work with base funding."

While Smith-Windsor sees the funding as a starting point that can only increase over time, Becotte sees the number as a potential budget freeze from a government that severely cut the education budget in 2017.

"There's no guarantees that the increases that are going to come in next year's budget will take into account inflationary pressures or enrolment growth," she said. "The school boards association rushed to sign this agreement without doing their due diligence."

When asked about a disconnect between the school boards association and the 27 school divisions that make up its membership, Smith-Windsor said all divisions endorsed the agreement.

"It's going to take successive budgets to restore stability to classrooms as well as to enhance our current practices," Smith-Windsor said.

Saskatoon Catholic and public schools both highlighted the 2017 provincial budget and how the damage from that budget is still being felt today.

Of the $20.2 million increase to Saskatoon public, only .3 per cent is available. The rest covered inflation and enrolment growth.

CTV News contacted the Ministry of Education about the budget issues in Saskatoon schools on Friday. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the ministry said it’s up to the school divisions to work with what they have.

“School divisions have the responsibility to make staffing and programming decisions within their allocated budget to meet local priorities and address the needs of their students and staff.”

With teachers set to vote on the province's three-year CBA offer on May 8 and 9, all the attention turns towards the specifics in that deal and how the province can be held accountable to fund schools appropriately.

"It's time to drill a little bit deeper into the process, through the development of an accountability framework to better understand what the specific needs are and how we can work together and collaborate to get to a better place," Smith-Windsor said.